Circular No. 585 December 1940 • Washington, D. C UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Ramie Fiber Production' ■ BRITTAIN B. ROBINSON, agronomist^ Division of Collón and Other Fiber Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry CONTENTS Page Page Introduction - - - - 1 Fiber preparation - History and botany 2 Yields - -- Where cultivated 2 Production 10 Adaptation 4 Domestic market and importations 11 Soils and íertiliMrs 6 Manufacturing and uses II Culture — 6 Fiber characteristics and potential value. 13 Time and methods of harvesting-. 7 Summary 13 «M^MWMMI^a^iM INTRODUCTION Kamie is the name ii^ed to designate a stingless nettle plant and also the textile bast fiber obtained from the plant. This fiber plant has attracted an unusual amount of attention and financial exploita- tion. The interest in ramie has resulted because of the beautiful luster possessed by the fiber and its reported durability and great strength. It probably rank^ first among all vegetable fibers in respect to strength.^ The interest in this fiber was initiated when prizes were offered in India for improvements in methods of processing and has been great during the past 70 years. However, ramie is utilized little more today than it was 50 years ago. What obstacle^ prevent this fiber from being more extensively used, und why is it still a relatively unimportant or minor fiber? An effort will be made in this circular, while discussing some of the agri- cultural problems connected with the successful growing of the crop, to point out some of the obstacles that have impeded the production of this fiber and that mu^t be overcome if, under present economic conditions and competition from other plant fibers, a ramie industry is to be established in this country. A number of problems should be carefully considered by investors before the expenditure of capital. The purpose of this circular is to answer numerous general inquiries for information about ramie. The discussion on the agricultural I This circular is a revision of, and supersedes, Miscellaneous Circular No. un, Ramie, A Fiher-Ylelding '''"MAVTHrws,"j.°MEERiTT. TEXTILE FIBERS. Ed. 4, 1053 pp., Ulus. New York and London. 1924. 250613°—40 2 CIRCULAR 5 8 5, U. S. DEPARTMEKT OF AGRICULTURE problems involved in producing the ci'op is not intended to advon^t Its commercial culture but is intended to serve as information f persons mterested in experimental plantings and those who Zv ^ considermg the possibilities of establishing this crop in the United HISTORY AND BOTANY Ramie wa^ one of the principal plant fibers used' in the Orient for making cloth before the introduction of cotton, which took placVin China about 1300 A. D. Since then cotton has replaced rami; to î large extent. Although ramie seems to have been known in tho Orient during earliest recorded times, it apparently was not known m Europe, Africa, or America until much later. íío authentic rec" ords have been found of the occurrence or utilization of this fihpr m ancient Egypt, although statements mention its use by the earlv Egyptians but these were apparently made as the result of confusing ramie with flax. It was first described by Linnaeus, an eminent i^uropean botanist, in 1737 from specimens obtained from China but apparently it was not known as a fiber plant west of central Asia' until a century later. Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaud, is the botanical name of the plant known as ramie. Several closely related species produce fiber but they are not so extensively utilized as B. nivea. It belongs to the nettle family but does not have the stinging hairs common amoníí nettles. However, the shrublike stem and leaves are covered with inconspicuous hairs. The plant grows from perennial roots that pro- duce stems or canes, as they are more commonly called. The canes may reach 8 feet in height and have little or no branching. They are small m diameter, usually less than one-half of an inch, and bear round to heart-shaped leaves that are dark green on the upper and white on the under surface. If the green stems are not cut and are allowed to mature, they usually turn brown and produce at the top clusters of male and female flowers, the latter developing very small SGGClS. If the canes are cut during the growing season to obtain the fiber, a new crop of canes begins to grow, and under favorable conditions three or four crops may be obtained in a season, as the growth may be very rapid. The name "rhea" is used in India in place of ramie and also was used formerly to designate the fiber produced in India. Although the name ramie is used in several languages to designate the common iber plant, the crude fiber, which is obtained in China, is known in commerce as China grass. This crude fiber is prepared by hand- cleaning in China and has adhering gums. It is in strands from 3 to 5 feet long, greenish to yellow in color, and rather stiff because of the gum present on the fiber. These gums must be removed in manufacturing to obtain the beautiful lustrous fiber that has the appearance of silk. WHERE CULTIVATED China grass has been exported from China and Japan for many years, and these countries were the only source of supply until about ladS when a small supply of fiber from acreage set out in the Philip- RAMIE FIBER PRODUCTION ,. Tslands was available for export. Although ramie is very P" lv\istributed in China, it is grown only in small patches and 'ïl\fiîd crop. The most productive areas are provinces along 'f YaLtze RWer, and Hankow and Kiukiang are the most impor- 'f exDorting Sers, although much of the Iber from the interior 'Î7e^I&Tghihè coastaf ports Shanghai, Tientsm, or Canton. ,1 Tanan it is grown only to a limited extent. 'VaX atteints to cultivate ramie in Russia were unsuccessful UepSt 3 ofTœnt attempts shows that out of 4,500 hectares (11119 is of ramie started in 1929, only 1,633 hectares (4,035 acres) ' A Í,. ^Q^c, Tnn«tlv in western Georgia, Union of Soviet Social- irrpubSs tetp're"^^^^^^^^ collective farms and 3 area on noncollective farms. It has been tried experimentally Älrn Europe, particularly in f-nœ and mo- r^^^^^^^^^^ talv. It was cultivated in France between 1888 and 1894 to supply mí erial for ramie cleaning-machine trials conducted by the French GÎvernment. However nfne of the machines were regarded as IflSa tiSe^afb^ widely, grown expe«^^^^ ever the only experiments of any size are believed to be one ot Ob S re'porte^d in Tanganyika Territory t in 1937 and one of about iOhpctares (99 acres) reported m Libya in 19áy. In India, ranüe griws wild in some regions Attempts.to cultivate the crop have not proved long lasting. The British Indian Govern- Snt oS.'as eLly .as isl, a prize of £5,(XX) for - machme to flpoorticste ramie. Trials were held m 1872 and in.l«79, but tne results were failures and the prize offer was later withdrawn. In cent vlaSuhere has been no ramie fiber exported from India, and appaientl^^^^^^^^^^^ only small areas cultivated m Bengal and Assam "ut'ltös"" Sie waÄfintroduced into the United States, .a^d sh;rüy theïea'fS found its way into a number of Central Amencan mnntries A number of attempts have-been made to start a ramie nZ y in the United States, Óentral America, ^f^ fou ^^^^«i™ Altl^onr^h the plant grows well in many sections of the Western Hem- tïer"f no Sïry has developed, probably because the machine ^TüÄä^äa't^eVpS^^^^^ been conducted along the South AtlaSk coast, the Wf of Mexico coast, and in California boutn Aiiamic c , experiment stations (fig. 1), Ä'^iS UniSd Asïï^^^^^^^^ o^f Agriculture. These ex- pSmeU haviproved the adaptability of the crop to certain re- perimems "ave p r ^^^^^^^ necessary for successful gions ^"^^^IfJ^ASrsive plantings have been made by companies the plant on a larger scale. ~ _,„ »rr nvTrtw mXSIBITION (SOVIET RAMIE).] Sovlet 4 CIRCULAR 585, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ADAPTATION Ramie has been called a semitropical plant. Although it has bepr, ÎZ:TJTT''''^\''' the Tropics, its greatest commercial devel opment has been m the semitrop cal regions. It has been reported that It grows better where the winters are cool enough to induce Î resting period. However, severe freezing and repeated freezing and thawing are likely to kill the roots, especially f the frost reiches several inches m the ground. Plants seem to"^stand the winterfa Washington, D. C,, with some mulching, but mulching on a field scaî might be expensive. Eecent experiments in Italy^have indicated that a Japanese variety of ramie shows surprising resistance to cold FiGUBE "''^at3"orfh!f'si"?"*'"^"V"""''at one of the State agricultural experiment """S I'urvested stations. by haud-cutting This may account in part for reports that ramie is grown in nearly every province of China to some extent, indicating^ th^re must be So^^wr ft"'' '''''*^"^ ^""J^^ ?^^ conditions of northern China. Sîd condlinn ^'' "n '■''°/^' *^.'^r **^^t th« Pl^"t will grow under cold conditions as well as it does in the so-called semitropics. flTin,^frwll75-? K^f^"^'"- not,^«ach the roots and those having an annual well-distributed ramfall of at least 40 inches are the only ones recommended for this crop by some writers. ^ «ímíÍhit «/*! u^ repeated experiments have indicated that the vZt xSl J^^^'""^ ^]^^ rainfalls are adapted for growing 3!' f^^^^^g^ an abundance of moisture is necessary for heavy fifp nL^^""'^' T^i"""^ ^* harvesttime may cause a problem.